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Bloodlines in widescreen??

opium fiend

Augur
Joined
Dec 30, 2006
Messages
546
I have 1.2 official patch and it doesn't support my beautiful widescreen monitor. Should I download any of the official patches, or there is a workaround via console?


edit: wesp's patch doesn't help.
 

Mareus

Magister
Joined
Apr 5, 2008
Messages
1,404
Location
Atlantis
I really don't understand why people buy widescreen monitors. They only lead to problems. I guess people don't know that until they try them out.

Here is some info for all of you guys that are thinking about buying a new monitor and you like the idea behind widescreens. Unfortunately the idea has few problems:
1. Widescreen monitors are still largely unsupported by older games. Don't get me wrong. Old games will work, but they will be streached and will look like splatted shit, so you will have to search for mods that fix it. Now imagine you have over hundreds of games and for each one of them you have to search for mods that work. Not worth it if you ask me.
2. Widescreen monitors have to work on highest possible resolutions, or else they will look like shit. That means more resources on your graphical card and possible slowdowns. Not worth it if you ask me.
3. Widescreen monitors will make the letters in some games and programs very tiny due to high resolutions, so you will have to get very close to be able to read things. I still have good sight, and you can read things, but it won't be as comfortable as on regular 4:3 monitor.
4. You will have to adjust the font size in Windows and internet explorer to make the letters bigger. Sometimes the results look pretty funny.
5. Widescreen monitors are known to have problems with some programs as well, so expect incompatibilities there too.
6. Widescreen monitors just plain old suck. If you want to watch a movie on a widescreen monitor, go buy yourself a goddamn TV. For a movie 4:3 monitor will serve just as well.
7. The only reason why anyone would want to buy widescreen monitor would be the price which is lower than 4:3 monitors. But ask yourself is 50$ worth all the problems you will have.
8. Regular 4:3 monitors are not dying out and you will always have support for them, so you don't need widescreen just for the sake of looking ahead what you might one day need. And new technologies are soon comming to the market anyway.

PEOPLE! DON'T BUY WIDESCREEN MONITORS!
 

Balor

Arcane
Joined
Dec 29, 2004
Messages
5,186
Location
Russia
Mareus said:
I really don't understand why people buy widescreen monitors. They only lead to problems. I guess people don't know that until they try them out.

Here is some info for all of you guys that are thinking about buying a new monitor and you like the idea behind widescreens. Unfortunately the idea has few problems:
1. Widescreen monitors are still largely unsupported by older games. Don't get me wrong. Old games will work, but they will be streached and will look like splatted shit, so you will have to search for mods that fix it. Now imagine you have over hundreds of games and for each one of them you have to search for mods that work. Not worth it if you ask me.
2. Widescreen monitors have to work on highest possible resolutions, or else they will look like shit. That means more resources on your graphical card and possible slowdowns. Not worth it if you ask me.
3. Widescreen monitors will make the letters in some games and programs very tiny due to high resolutions, so you will have to get very close to be able to read things. I still have good sight, and you can read things, but it won't be as comfortable as on regular 4:3 monitor.
4. You will have to adjust the font size in Windows and internet explorer to make the letters bigger. Sometimes the results look pretty funny.
5. Widescreen monitors are known to have problems with some programs as well, so expect incompatibilities there too.
6. Widescreen monitors just plain old suck. If you want to watch a movie on a widescreen monitor, go buy yourself a goddamn TV. For a movie 4:3 monitor will serve just as well.
7. The only reason why anyone would want to buy widescreen monitor would be the price which is lower than 4:3 monitors. But ask yourself is 50$ worth all the problems you will have.
8. Regular 4:3 monitors are not dying out and you will always have support for them, so you don't need widescreen just for the sake of looking ahead what you might one day need. And new technologies are soon comming to the market anyway.

PEOPLE! DON'T BUY WIDESCREEN MONITORS!

Seconded, unless it's a true HD monitor, and you expect only to watch HD movies on it (torrented, of course, otherwise you'd just buy a TV).
 

Solohk

Scholar
Joined
Aug 15, 2006
Messages
289
Location
Madam Lil's
Mareus said:
1. Widescreen monitors are still largely unsupported by older games. Don't get me wrong. Old games will work, but they will be streached and will look like splatted shit, so you will have to search for mods that fix it. Now imagine you have over hundreds of games and for each one of them you have to search for mods that work. Not worth it if you ask me.
Or... If you have an nVidia card, you set it to maintain aspect ratio and it gives you black bars instead of stretching. If you don't have an nVidia card, you can pick up a monitor that can do this natively.

Mareus said:
2. Widescreen monitors have to work on highest possible resolutions, or else they will look like shit. That means more resources on your graphical card and possible slowdowns. Not worth it if you ask me.
I just turn down settings rather than resolution if I have to. I haven't ran into problems doing this yet.

Mareus said:
3. Widescreen monitors will make the letters in some games and programs very tiny due to high resolutions, so you will have to get very close to be able to read things. I still have good sight, and you can read things, but it won't be as comfortable as on regular 4:3 monitor.
I've never ran into this.

Mareus said:
4. You will have to adjust the font size in Windows and internet explorer to make the letters bigger. Sometimes the results look pretty funny.
I've never had to do this either.

Mareus said:
5. Widescreen monitors are known to have problems with some programs as well, so expect incompatibilities there too.
Once again, never ran into this.

Mareus said:
6. Widescreen monitors just plain old suck. If you want to watch a movie on a widescreen monitor, go buy yourself a goddamn TV. For a movie 4:3 monitor will serve just as well.
Weak.

Mareus said:
7. The only reason why anyone would want to buy widescreen monitor would be the price which is lower than 4:3 monitors. But ask yourself is 50$ worth all the problems you will have.
What problems? Other than the ones you've made up that is?

Mareus said:
8. Regular 4:3 monitors are not dying out and you will always have support for them, so you don't need widescreen just for the sake of looking ahead what you might one day need. And new technologies are soon comming to the market anyway.
I don't know... I'd call not seeing 4:3 monitors in stores anymore a pretty good indication that they're dying out.
 

headache

Novice
Joined
Apr 19, 2003
Messages
83
You are using the right patch I believe (this one, right? http://www.patches-scrolls.de/vampire_bloodlines.php).

When you install that, it puts a tool in the game folder for widescreen, but you have to run that once (filling in your desired resolution-- my exact one wasn't one of the defaults so be careful) and it will patch for the new resolution. There may be one more step, I forget if I needed to do this every time I installed: you may have to select the newly available resolution within the game, then restart it.

Once you get it going it works great.
 

Mareus

Magister
Joined
Apr 5, 2008
Messages
1,404
Location
Atlantis
Solohk said:
Mareus said:
1. Widescreen monitors are still largely unsupported by older games. Don't get me wrong. Old games will work, but they will be streached and will look like splatted shit, so you will have to search for mods that fix it. Now imagine you have over hundreds of games and for each one of them you have to search for mods that work. Not worth it if you ask me.
Or... If you have an nVidia card, you set it to maintain aspect ratio and it gives you black bars instead of stretching. If you don't have an nVidia card, you can pick up a monitor that can do this natively.

Mareus said:
2. Widescreen monitors have to work on highest possible resolutions, or else they will look like shit. That means more resources on your graphical card and possible slowdowns. Not worth it if you ask me.
I just turn down settings rather than resolution if I have to. I haven't ran into problems doing this yet.

Mareus said:
3. Widescreen monitors will make the letters in some games and programs very tiny due to high resolutions, so you will have to get very close to be able to read things. I still have good sight, and you can read things, but it won't be as comfortable as on regular 4:3 monitor.
I've never ran into this.

Mareus said:
4. You will have to adjust the font size in Windows and internet explorer to make the letters bigger. Sometimes the results look pretty funny.
I've never had to do this either.

Mareus said:
5. Widescreen monitors are known to have problems with some programs as well, so expect incompatibilities there too.
Once again, never ran into this.

Mareus said:
6. Widescreen monitors just plain old suck. If you want to watch a movie on a widescreen monitor, go buy yourself a goddamn TV. For a movie 4:3 monitor will serve just as well.
Weak.

Mareus said:
7. The only reason why anyone would want to buy widescreen monitor would be the price which is lower than 4:3 monitors. But ask yourself is 50$ worth all the problems you will have.
What problems? Other than the ones you've made up that is?

Mareus said:
8. Regular 4:3 monitors are not dying out and you will always have support for them, so you don't need widescreen just for the sake of looking ahead what you might one day need. And new technologies are soon comming to the market anyway.
I don't know... I'd call not seeing 4:3 monitors in stores anymore a pretty good indication that they're dying out.

I work in wholesale department and I sell monitors and bunch of other things. If you say 4:3 monitors are not selling then you obviously don't know anything. Firms I am selling monitors to still insist on 4:3 monitors to avoid problems I mentioned. The stores I am selling monitors to also like to have 4:3 monitors in stock because there is still demand for them, especially by people who already tried widescreens, although widescreen monitors sell better because they are cheap. Also I was refering to resolutions if you haven't noticed. All games, both new and old will have support for 4:3 monitors, while old games don't support widescreen monitors.

I had a widescreen monitor 2 years ago, so maybe they solved some of the problems I mentioned, but as far as I am concerned they still can't measure up to the old 4:3 monitors, which take less resources due to inherintly lower resolutions that look better than on widescreen. And you also avoid having problems with streaching the screen or having to adjust it to get black bars (which I still haven't seen but I will believe your word for it).

The font on internet in Windows gets smaller the higher resolution you use, so if you didn't notice it maybe you are just far sighted.

And one more thing. I haven't made anything up. Just check the internet and you will see a lot of people have problems with widescreen monitors. Check your facts straight before you come accusing people of making things up.
 

Solohk

Scholar
Joined
Aug 15, 2006
Messages
289
Location
Madam Lil's
First, I never said there wasn't a demand for 4:3 monitors. I only said they are vanishing from the shelves of stores.

Second, I'm fully aware that people have problems with widescreen monitors, which is why I included how to solve them. Seriously, if you're worried about stretching, either buy a videocard (any nVidia) or a monitor that allows you to maintain the 4:3 aspect ratio when appropriate.

Here's all you have to do to enable it with an nVidia card:
nvidiaratioyh8.png


And then you get this:
img009es8.jpg

My camera on my phone sucks but you get the idea.

Mareus said:
The font on internet in Windows gets smaller the higher resolution you use, so if you didn't notice it maybe you are just far sighted.
That is true only if the size of the monitor does not increase. But since the size tends to increase along with resolution (ex 20 - 22 inch does 1680x1050, 24+ inch does 1900x1200), I've never found it to be a problem. If you do, just go up in size but not resolution.
 

elander_

Arbiter
Joined
Oct 7, 2005
Messages
2,015
My shitty Radeon video card can do the same thing and it's a low end video card.
 

Brother None

inXile Entertainment
Developer
Joined
Jul 11, 2004
Messages
5,673
Mareus said:
I really don't understand why people buy widescreen monitors. They only lead to problems.
PEOPLE! DON'T BUY WIDESCREEN MONITORS!

Heh. You sound like someone talking about TVs 5 years ago, and now wide-screen TVs are easily the majority.

You've got it ass-backwards. Letterbox isn't ideal for the human eye. Nor is wide-screen, but it is better adapted to our eyes than 4:3 is.

What you're saying is we should all adapt to a stupid resolution because someone once randomly picked 4:3 as a good format to TVs.

It's quite the other way around. Naturally there are some problems, but wide-screen is still simply the superior resolution, and will win out in the end.

My wide-screen monitor has auto-adjust. I've rarely had problems with it, except with a handful of games (including Bloodlines, I should note)
 

Nedrah

Erudite
Joined
Mar 14, 2005
Messages
1,693
Location
Germany
Agreed, I own a 22" Samsung Synchmaster. I have not run into any of the problems mentioned so far, but on the other hand games that ARE designed with widescreen-support in mind just look plain better. There's also the issue of simply having more space to work with - really, I would never consider going back.
 

Mareus

Magister
Joined
Apr 5, 2008
Messages
1,404
Location
Atlantis
Brother None said:
Mareus said:
I really don't understand why people buy widescreen monitors. They only lead to problems.
PEOPLE! DON'T BUY WIDESCREEN MONITORS!

Heh. You sound like someone talking about TVs 5 years ago, and now wide-screen TVs are easily the majority.

You've got it ass-backwards. Letterbox isn't ideal for the human eye. Nor is wide-screen, but it is better adapted to our eyes than 4:3 is.

What you're saying is we should all adapt to a stupid resolution because someone once randomly picked 4:3 as a good format to TVs.

It's quite the other way around. Naturally there are some problems, but wide-screen is still simply the superior resolution, and will win out in the end.

My wide-screen monitor has auto-adjust. I've rarely had problems with it, except with a handful of games (including Bloodlines, I should note)
Monitors and TVs are not the same. Look, you guys have widescreens and you are happy with them. Great. I tried them out and they didn't work out for me. Those black bars sure solve one of the problems, but there are still other problems I mentioned that remain. So if you are cool with that, great. I am not and I am aware it will take quite a few more years before those problems get resolved. I would still not recommend a widescreen monitor to anyone, because the benefits of having your screen a bit wider is just not worth all the trouble.
 

Deleted member 7219

Guest
Solohk said:
Seriously, if you're worried about stretching, either buy a videocard (any nVidia) or a monitor that allows you to maintain the 4:3 aspect ratio when appropriate.

Here's all you have to do to enable it with an nVidia card:

I have an 8800GT, on my Nvidia Control Panel there is no such option. Please can you tell me how I can enable it?
 
Joined
Feb 19, 2008
Messages
6,992
Hey Mareus, my 19" 5:4 is starting to get 'ghost images', if I leave a window open the imprint will remain and I also have a shadow line down the side of the screen, is it going to crap out on me suddenly? I can handle the problems but was wondering if I should get a new one.
 

Solohk

Scholar
Joined
Aug 15, 2006
Messages
289
Location
Madam Lil's
Matt7895 said:
Solohk said:
Seriously, if you're worried about stretching, either buy a videocard (any nVidia) or a monitor that allows you to maintain the 4:3 aspect ratio when appropriate.

Here's all you have to do to enable it with an nVidia card:

I have an 8800GT, on my Nvidia Control Panel there is no such option. Please can you tell me how I can enable it?
I have that card as well. Do you have Standard Settings selected instead of Advanced Settings? If so, flip it to Advanced. (look at my screenshot above to see what I'm talking about)
 

Deleted member 7219

Guest
Solohk said:
Matt7895 said:
Solohk said:
Seriously, if you're worried about stretching, either buy a videocard (any nVidia) or a monitor that allows you to maintain the 4:3 aspect ratio when appropriate.

Here's all you have to do to enable it with an nVidia card:

I have an 8800GT, on my Nvidia Control Panel there is no such option. Please can you tell me how I can enable it?
I have that card as well. Do you have Standard Settings selected instead of Advanced Settings? (look at my screenshot above to see what I'm talking about)

Yeah, I have it on advanced settings. My monitor is a cheap German one though (Hanns G), that might be the problem - Nvidia thinks its an old CRT one when in fact it is 22" LCD. I wonder if there's a way I can get Nvidia to recognise it as LCD instead of thinking it is CRT?

The weird thing is, Nvidia lets me put the resolution at 1680x1050, even though thats a widescreen resolution that CRTs don't display...
 

Solohk

Scholar
Joined
Aug 15, 2006
Messages
289
Location
Madam Lil's
Well, I have at least somewhat new Forceware drivers installed - 169.02. I wonder if you just need newer ones. However, I think the problem is that it thinks your monitor is a CRT. Maybe you need to find the drivers for your monitor, or even pick a generic windows LCD driver.
 

Nedrah

Erudite
Joined
Mar 14, 2005
Messages
1,693
Location
Germany
Should definitely be the faulty monitor recognition. Have you checked wether your monitor supports scaling by itself?
__________
Edit: If you decide to update your drivers, do not go with the newest ones, 175.19. That version is known for its terrible performance. Grab 175.16 instead - I'd recommend that for everyone with an 8xxx or newer, by the way - 175.16 is solid.

Look, you guys have widescreens and you are happy with them. Great. I tried them out and they didn't work out for me. Those black bars sure solve one of the problems, but there are still other problems I mentioned that remain.

Sure, whatever floats your boat. You just need to recognize that those of us who are happy with their widescreens don't have the problems you're speaking of, in fact this is the first time I heard of those. Maybe you should consider having a look at some of the newer, quality brand widescreens available? Might turn out to be more reasonable than just damning the whole concept, especially if you're in a position where you frequently have to give your advise to people.
 

Deleted member 7219

Guest
Oh fucking hell, I can't believe I didn't try going through the monitor to begin with. Yes, I can change aspect ratio from 16:10 to 4:3!

Thanks for the help. I never thought the workaround would be in fiddling around with the monitor's settings.

As for 'problems'.... many older games from Fallout to Morrowind have working widescreen mods, all the brand new games have widescreen support built in (and they look fantastic, especially The Witcher), and those games that don't have widescreen support can easily be fixed just by doing what I've just done and what others here suggest - just fiddle with the monitor's settings, or Nvidia, and you can easily get 4:3 aspect ratio.
 

ghostdog

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Dec 31, 2007
Messages
11,079
Fuck the aspect ratio debates, the real question is when will all these horrible TN panels die and we'll see more PVA and S-IPS panels within reasonable prices.
 

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